Art Therapy in Palliative Care: Study of Identification and Understanding of the Mechanisms of Change in the Patient

This study evaluates from the patient's perspective which elements of the own artistic creative process are the source of a beneficial change for him/her and how those elements influence in their end of life experience.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Suffering; Advanced Cancers; Psychological Stress
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: art therapy

Detailed Description

In previous quantitative studies about the effect of an art therapy intervention in adult cancer inpatients of the Palliative Care Unit, the investigators evidenced significant improvements in the symptom control of malaise, anxiety, depression and pain.

This study is designed to deepen the understanding of specific action mechanisms which lead to those therapeutic benefits and quality of life implications for patients with life-threatening illness in which a situation of suffering is frequently detected.

The investigators will determine from the subjective patient's experience which specific elements of the artistic creative process (including production of art and art products) may lead to changes in the symptom perception, in meaning and healing process and in the personal perspective about the end of life situation.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 103
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Spain
  • Barcelona, Spain, 08025
    • Hospital Sant Pau

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• advanced-cancer adult inpatients of the Palliative Care Unit
• informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

• altered cognitive function (Mini-Mental Test < 24)
• physical decline (palliative care team's criteria) that impedes the art therapy process

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: art therapy; Individual 30-60 minutes art therapy sessions, twice a week, offering visual arts materials.

Behavioral: art therapy; Patient's creativity is stimulated by visual arts materials and various art therapy techniques including punctual use of music, poetry and body expression. The intervention, based on the investigators previous experience, is founded on: humanistic phenomenological focus; transpersonal therapeutic bound; transdisciplinarity in the artistic approach; integrative-relational specialized counseling of the grief, loss and trauma aspects.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Reflect Interview (RI) using audio recording.	An art based interview is administered and involves the patients selecting 2 significant artworks from their art therapy productions. The patient is asked by the art therapist for a narrative of how one artwork relates to the other in the context of his/her lived experience. The art therapy dialogue from the RI is transcribed and subjected to thematic analysis.	After the making of a minimum of 5 art pieces, an average of 2 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Art therapy process from the art therapist perspective.	Detailed notes and photographical register.	Every day of art therapy session, with an average of 2 sessions a week, over a period of 2 years.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Fundació Institut de Recerca de l'Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Antonio Pascual, MD, Palliative Care Unit, Sant Pau Hospital, Barcelona, Spain.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): October 20, 2016
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 30, 2020
• Study Completion (Actual): December 31, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 30, 2016
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 14, 2016
• First Posted (Estimate): June 15, 2016

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 24, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 23, 2022
• Last Verified: March 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Stress, Psychological
• Other Study ID Numbers: IIBSP-ART-2016-14

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO